The villainess will survive!

Part 24: The festival

In the middle of the whole festival stood Ivy with some dancers in the back. Even though the clothes they wore was probably very expensive for the commoners, it was like a speck of light compared to the sun with Ivy's dress. Looks like she just couldn't wear anything less fancy. 

I decided to stand in the front in hopes of her noticing me and going a bit off beat. I suppose even with these commoners clothes, it was easy to recognise if you looked close at me and my signature drills. 

No matter what I did, it was futile to even try to straighten them out. 

The show was pretty average in terms of originality. 

All they did was do an elegant dance while Ivy sang and made some flowers grow around her. But I could tell the commoners enjoyed it very much, hence they had never seen a show like this. Most commoners couldn't do magic, and didn't even bother to do something like this. But if you had lived a noble, something like this wasn't even near top stuff quality. 

Onii-sama pretended to be having fun watching the show, but I could tell he was bored. 

Hang on for a bit more, Onii-sama. 

Ivy continued with her little dance, and after a few minutes, I could even see the commoners getting bored. 

Her dance was interesting at first, but it started getting repetitive. Also, her singing is off beat. 

In the otome game, Ivy's voice was supposed to sound like a bird singing, with the tone of a saint. When she sang, everything around her lit up, with her in the center of the light. Everybody becomes mesmerised, as if an angel came down from the sky to save them. 

Yet, her voice was so average. What had exactly happened to Ivy for her to change so much?

Where did that glowering aura go?

"—selyn?" Onii-sama's voice interrupted my thoughts. 

"—Ah! Do you like the show?" I said quickly. I couldn't think of anything else in time. 

"Were you spacing out?" He asked me. I know he tried to put on a nice smile, but I knew that he was just worried for me and wanted to know what I was thinking about. 

I must've looked a bit worried for him to ask like this.

"Hm? Why? The show is great, isn't it, Onii-sama?" I responded with a smile. I decided to change the topic. Onii-sama asking more won't be good. 

"Yes, it's great, isn't it?" Onii-sama smiled back. But this wasn't a warm smile. This was a even-if-you-don't-tell-me-I will-find-out smile. 

Onii-sama has never given me that smile. 

I always told him everything. He knew everything. I have always trusted him. He has always trusted me. But that doesn't mean he necessarily told me everything. I had the right to not tell him everything when he never told me anything about him. 

But I guess it was almost useless. He looked like he was going to make me spill everything out. He looked .....................almost hurt. 

I looked back to the show. That was probably a simple delusion. 

I had other things to focus on other than a small dispute between siblings. 

Just then, Ivy saw me. Her eyes opened wide, and she completely stopped for a second. 

'Surprised much?'

Even though it was only for a second, it served well. 

She froze, and then the dancers behind her got confused. This cause a bit of chaos because they were all following the main lead, Ivy.
The band was still playing and they haven't noticed that the dancers were having a hard time. This caused them to try to remember what they which part they were on, after deciding to follow the ignorant band who had too much fun playing.
But Ivy was using magic, and her attention diverted more to the dancing than her controlling. Soon, the plants dancing around smashed on the stage, resulting in some broken-through floor boards. 
The globes of water shining in the air all fell down and splashed on the dancers and a few of the commoners. 
Soon, Ivy saw all the chaos and displeased audience and decided to try to fix it by controlling the flower vines again. 
But when doing so, the already-torn through cheap floorboards gave in and she caved in. 
The vines smashed down with her, but this time on the crowd. 

Bam!!! 

The audience dove for it, and soon they heard the vines smash on something. 

The dust cleared, and they saw a yellow see-through plate above them, with weird symbols written on it. 

The only one standing, a girl with golden hair and drills held up her arm. 

Everybody stared at her, shocked. 

                                                        "That's enough, Ivy." 

I'm sure my voice was heard through all the debris. 

My Onii-sama didn't even blink or flinch, he just sat there. 

".....A-ah................." Ivy's body shaked. She looked defeated. 

"Don't you have something to say to us, Ivy?" I told her. 

"I'm...........*hick!* so......sorry!!! *hick!* Uwahhhhhhh!!" She bent down and started crying. 

How pathetic. Even if you bawl on the ground for forgiveness, you won't convince anyone. How utterly annoying. 

The commoners stared at her, not knowing what to say. They were angry, yes, but the person they wanted to frown at was crying and looked very apologetic. 

The commoners slowly left one-by-one, while some mages in charge of security came over and started cleaning up. 
Ivy, that crybaby, was still crying with a cloth over her sad figure. What was this, a crime scene?!

The most surprising thing though, was that the sitting Onii-sama went over to Ivy to calm her down. I looked at him pat her shoulder and tell her something meant to sooth, but turned my head. It wasn't my business, anyways. 

I decided to go to the potion area. According to the game, the potion they sold were supposed to let children have fun, while also being flavoured. Real magic potions tasted really bitter and sometimes yucky, so I wanted to try it a sweet one. I bet it would taste like juice.

The festival was very organised. Food stands stayed in the food area, and different types of stores all had their special place. The potion stand was in the magic area.

Good thing I managed to snatch a flyer before they ran out. I wouldn't have found this flyer if it were not for the map printed on it. 

There was only one stand that sold those sweet potions, and I recognised it right away thanks to the game. 

Ivy got lost and found this stand with Ellios checking the stand out. Ellios was a powerful magician who was very interested in these potions, after all. There, Ellios bought a potion that illuminated all the mana in your body, causing you to light up. 
But the thing was, Roselyn put a tracker on Ivy, and due to the potion, it showed up.
Ellios even had a hard time getting rid of it. 

But I wasn't the old Roselyn. I didn't need to put a tracker. 

All I had to do was scan the area for her mana. It was that simple, and Roselyn used a way to dig her own grave. 

I had to admit, the old Roselyn was very unintelligent. 

Even if scanning for mana was difficult, Roselyn could've pulled it off very easily if she put a tracker that didn't get noticed for a whole semester and even Ellios found it hard to destroy it.

I frowned and headed towards the stand. 

Since Ivy was in the middle of the festival, crying, Ellios definitely rushed there to help her. What dumb, weak men they were, being the best husband quality but falling head-over-heals for Ivy. 

Now, I could buy things in quiet. No annoying heroine, no stupid guys protecting her. 

Until I saw a figure at that stand. 

Ellios.